After a harrowing journey from our home in Cleveland (see previous post) we finally arrived in Rexburg where my family was all waiting for us. Once there, the fun and craziness was pretty much non-stop. Hang on and get ready for a lot of pictures and I'll walk you through what has happened in this last week. Oh- and by the way, this is not in any way chronological. Pretty much I just dumped a bunch of pictures on here and I'll tell the story of our week in the captions.

Story time with Haley! This was a daily (almost) ritual at our house. It is clear that Haley has been to a lot of story times with her son, Bennett, because she was awesome at marching around the room with toy instruments and feeding little puppets. It was great.

I also want to mention how fun it is being in a house with a lot of people. Crazy, but fun. This is what Christmas is to me. There is always something going on and usually many things going on at once. Kids are everywhere, people are cooking, laughing, talking, and just hanging out. People are always coming and going and the whole house is infused with this huge amount of positive energy that is just...well...Christmasy. I love it.

"Christmas Day" at our house was actually on Christmas Eve Eve because a lot of people were going to leave the next day (including us). Before opening presents we had all of the kids act out the Christmas story. That was interesting. I think Jackson has a future as a shepherd, but the rest was pretty much just total chaos- exactly as it should be. The present exchange was fun and Rachel's presents that she has been making went over very well. I was expressly forbidden to put a picture on here, but I think the best present was Ashland's green superhero-like spandex bodysuit that Griffin gave to her. Use your imagination. It was also a lot of fun because this is the first Christmas that I think Evelyn truly understood what was going on.

Laser Tag.
So here's a funny story: Haley stood right next to Grandpa the whole game encouraging him to go after the other team and acting surprised when Grandpa kept getting hit over and over and over again by some unknown shooter. The funny part- Haley was, in fact, the unknown shooter and Grandpa never realized they were on opposite teams! My grandpa is awesome!

I also have to say it- my team never lost. Even when Grandpa was on it!



Skiing. I love skiing. I don't get to go very often any more- maybe only 1-2 times per year. But we had a lot of fun at Kelly Canyon and it was a perfect day. Courtney and Ashland both shredded up the slopes on their snowboards under Griffin's careful tutelage, and Rachel, I think, wins the prize for the best wipe-out of the day (although I heard that Haley's face-plant was also pretty spectacular).

Quote of the day- "Rachel just makes her own path down the mountain."

I think everyone had a great time and it was fun being out with them.

I included this picture because one night my dad randomly called all of the kids together and then went into the garage and brought out this gigantic stuffed dog for them! I have no idea where they are going to keep this thing, and I know my mom was pretty excited about all the hair that fell off of it and got on the carpet, but I have to admit that it was the perfect surprise for the kids. After they realized that it was a toy and not a giant kid-eating monster (they scattered and ran for cover when they first saw it), Eva, Jack, Addy, and Bennett had countless hours of fun with this thing.

There's not really much of a story behind this one- just a bunch of kids in the tub and one very concerned Zoey.

Bowling. Every frame had a different requirement. Here we see Allison and Courtney as they bowl "between the legs." A lot of fun, a lot of laughs, and a lot of gutter-balls. Who could ask for a better afternoon on a snowy day in Rexburg?



Sledding. Evelyn loved this! We will definitely have to buy some sleds when we get home because I think Evelyn found her new favorite activity.We are still hearing about it. This is the one great perk of living on a hill without much traffic and a lot of ice. (Not such a perk, however, when you are driving a small car without much traction).

Well, I could post more pictures (we have hundreds), but I think that pretty much shows the fun we had with my family. What I can't show is the many, many hours of conversation and togetherness that really made this week so great. I have said it before, but I honestly believe that I have the greatest family on the planet and it is fun when we all get to be together in celebration of this wonderful Christmas Season.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Ok. I'll admit that I am not in the frame of mind to be sitting down at a computer right now and writing this blog. I've already tried begging, bribing, and bullying the other members of my family to write it for me, but they wouldn't give in. So I'm sorry, but you get me again today. And I am grumpy. Oh- and I don't have any pictures because we left our camera at home. So if you are like most people and you just scroll down to see the pictures then you might as well leave right now.

But really, aside from all of that, it has been a really fantastic week. On Tuesday and Wednesday I took my board exam for my dentistry license so it's awesome that I don't have to study for that any more. It was sort of getting to be a drag anyway and I was losing any motivation that I ever had. Also, on Thursday I got certified to do Invisalign ("invisible braces") for my patients once I graduate and I am pretty excited about that.

On Friday we got to the airport early and made our way to check-in and security. Only then did we realize that Rachel had left her driver's license in the car and our neighbor who drove us didn't have a phone. This was to be the beginning of a very long day. To summarize, we ended up begging our way through security and then dealing with three very wiggly, noisy, and hellishly cranky little children on three separate flights and a four hour drive before we arrived in Rexburg, Idaho. Seriously, it was the hardest day of travel I think we have ever had. We just kept reminding ourselves that at the end of the day we would be at our destination and that we would never see these people again who were casting hateful glances our way.

But now we are here. It has been an awesome couple of days so far and we are looking forward to a great time. Anyway, I'm going to sign out now because we are playing family games and I'd rather be a part of that than writing this blog. Like I said before- not in the mood.

Sorry.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Addy is making motor boat and turkey sounds right now and turning in circles until she falls over. Jolly would be a good word to describe her. Sometimes I don't know if she thinks very much- she is sort of an airhead. But she is a jolly airhead. That is our sweet cuddly Adalie.

Jackson, on the other hand, more than makes up for the difference with his over-analytical way of viewing the world. He is focused and he is intelligent. He reminds me of Oliver mouse in that Night-before-Christmas cartoon special (those who know what I am talking about can relate). Oh- and he never laughs. He chuckles. And it sounds like a chicken. Seriously.

Neither Addy nor Jackson have necks. They look like snowmen. Also, they have started playing together which is a lot of fun to watch. Two snowmen bumping and rolling around the room making poultry noises. We love our kids.

Evelyn also plays with them and they all get along pretty well. Sometimes it backfires though. Today Evelyn was showing them how to play "London Bridges." When she "took the key to lock them up," she grabbed Jackson and put him in a Chuck Norris style headlock and started swinging him around the room. We weren't too worried though since Jackson just made chicken noises through the whole thing. I think that means he was chuckling. I couldn't see his face though, and he just as well could have been struggling desperately for a breath of fresh air. In either case he survived and is now busy trying to steamroll Adalie (still making motor boat noises) with a baby stroller.

Never a dull moment at the Hazard house.

Well, this has been a fun week, but not too eventful since I am studying so much. This is crunch time and a lot of finals are taking place and I take the Board Exam in a week-and-a-half to get my dentist license.

But as fun as that is we were still able to get out a few times and do some stuff together. On Friday night Rachel and I drove out to Cuyahoga Falls and walked around the town looking at lights and watching the ice-skaters. Yesterday we all went to the Mall downtown in Cleveland where there was a gingerbread house display. It was good and gave us inspiration for our own gingerbread house that we will be making in January.

Also, Rachel has been busy at work sewing Christmas presents. The final results are looking good, and I think that Rachel is having a lot of fun making them. She is my hero when it comes to presents, and I apologize to everyone in advance, but all the stuff I am giving away is coming straight from the store. No creativity here.

Also, because of that pure lack of creative talent, I have no pictures this week. Sorry!

I don't really know how to begin this week. It was so full of activities that writing about it might take a while. So hold on and, if you want, just skip to the end where you can see it all in pictures.

So, this morning Evelyn got up really early and asked me for "purple yogurt." I patiently informed her that we did not have purple yogurt, but she was adamant that the vanilla yogurt in the fridge was purple. After I put some in a bowl to show her that it was, in fact, white she looked at me as if I was stupid, and then said in a very matter-of-fact voice, "Daddy- make it purple. Red and blue make purple."

Apparently Mama has been teaching the colors with food coloring.

Monday was a day of dates. In the afternoon during Jack and Addy's naps Rachel took Evelyn on a date to the science museum. Evelyn has recently been a bit obsessed with space and astronauts, so it was really fun for her to go the the space exhibits and have some one-on-one with Mama. If you remember, I took Evelyn on a date about a month ago where we watched a movie. Rachel and I decided to make this a tradition- each month we will try to take each of our children out on dates- or "guys-night-out" as the case may be. This month it was Rachel's turn.

Later in the day we got a babysitter and Rachel and I went to the Broadway production of Billy Elliot the Musical. The night out was great and the show was amazing. I love going to shows- especially musicals- and this one did not disappoint.

Tuesday I can't remember what we did besides going shopping. Sort of boring, but also a nice day of relaxation.

On Wednesday we packed the kids into the car in the morning and drove to Columbus where we went to the COSI museum. We had been there once before and decided it was worth a second trip. It was even better this time around because Addy and Jack are actually old enough to interact and have fun. I love having young kids!

Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving day. We celebrated by inviting two other families (also students) over to our house for a shared Thanksgiving dinner and game night. The food was great- the company better. We feel so blessed to feel so at home here in Cleveland and for our extended family-away-from-family that we have developed. It is crazy that we only have about six months left here and it is sort of sad to think of leaving. Anyway- I'll address that in a different post.

Friday was the day that we abandoned all sense of reason in the pursuit of merchandise. Yes, I was at Wal-mart at 2:45 in the morning standing in line so that, at 5:00, I could buy a laptop. Fortunately I was able to get one, and Rachel now has a computer with a working "P." Later in the day we went to the mall and made our wish-lists for Christmas but didn't buy anything except for a couple of tacos. They weren't even on sale.

On Saturday we again loaded the kids up into the car and drove to Toledo to yet another museum. I should mention here that these two hour car trips are becoming somewhat of an ordeal since the heater has gone out on the passenger side of the van and instead blows out freezing cold air-conditioned air. This means that either the passenger (usually me) is really, Really, REALLY cold or that the entire car must adapt to "room temperature" which is dropping pretty low the farther we get into winter. Fortunately, the $3 part that I need to fix it is on its way and we soon won't have these issues any more.

Anyway, that was totally beside the point. The point is that we went to the Imagination Station in Toledo and that it was well worth the drive because the discovery museum is awesome. Everyone had a fun time and we could hardly get Evelyn to leave at the end of the day.

Like I said, it has been a fantastic, busy week.

This is Evelyn the "princess astronaut" at the Imagination Station

The kids table during Thanksgiving.

Addy at COSI. She loved splashing in the water and getting everything wet. Oh the joy!

Jackson at COSI. He just wanted to figure out how things work. He could be an engineer someday.


Before

After. It was a sad, yet long-overdue day.

Evelyn on her date with Mama. Here, she is landing a spaceship. She was very focused.

More pictures of Evelyn on her date with Mama.

Ok- these last three pictures were actually taken months ago, but they were just barely "discovered." I thought they were to cute to leave unpublished.

I've been demoted. I am no longer Prince Eric.

My name is now "Logan." I'm not Daddy. I'm not even Papa. Just plain Logan (Well- sometimes I am prince Logan). She probably picked up on this in nursery where all of her friends call me Logan. She knows I want to be Daddy or Papa and she makes a very deliberate effort to avoid calling me by these titles. She thinks it is funny. And she gets away with it, because...

...She is cute.

And she knows it.

Well, our cute little know-it-all also had her very first dance performance this week. She has been in dance class for a while now and was finally able to show us some of her moves. Here is a video- She is the one on the far left in yellow. Frankly, I think she stole the show. Then again, I am her Daddy (whether or not she wants to acknowledge that fact is her decision).




Also, Evelyn has made several discoveries around the house lately. Here are a few of them:

Maleficent (from Sleeping Beauty) lives on our back steps. Apparently she is very moody, because sometimes she is nice enough to play with, and sometimes we must avoid that area at all costs (this can get tiring).

Belle and The Beast are now officially a part of our upstairs neighbor's family. She will reference these characters frequently when talking about the Tippetts. She even prays for them at night.

There are droves of monsters living in the trees. They are all different colors. The ones in our front yard are purple, but others can be orange, pink, blue, yellow, green, or gold. They are nice monsters, and they eat acorns and squirrels. They frequently come out of the trees to play but must take short naps every 3-5 minutes.

Needless to say, Evelyn has a very active imagination.

Here she is before the performance.

I am so excited to have Logan home. I didn’t realize the extent of how much I missed him until I saw him at the airport last night. My handsome, sweet, loving husband is home! Hooray!

My week was pretty crazy. The beginning of the week was an adventure thanks to daylight savings time. Was this insane tradition started by farmers who wanted an extra hour of daylight to work in the morning? I think we need to overthrow this tradition and start a new tradition of having an extra hour of light when we can actually use it… after work. Ok. That was my two cents (I actually don’t really know the reason for daylight savings, but that makes sense and I am too lazy to look it up). Anyway- daylight savings wreaks havoc on sweet little children’s sleep schedules. Enough said.

We have all been taking turns being sick this week. I was able to stay relatively healthy, but this morning I woke up feeling pretty yucky. Hopefully it will pass soon.

This week Jackson and Adalie learned all about playing with dolls. Both of them caught on really quickly to the idea of ‘hugging’ the baby. I watched Jackson walk around the room and take turns giving hugs to each stuffed animal or doll. He giggled and danced around the whole time.

This week was full of cleaning and organizing. I decided to streamline my cleaning process and have a list of things I clean weekly, monthly, and as needed. The reason I did this was because my recent cleaning style was to clean and make my house look beautiful once a day. This is great except for the fact that I didn’t always get around to the deep cleaning, and when the dirt snuck up on me I would become overwhelmed. I decided to clean a little bit extra while Logan was gone and I kind of got carried away. If I didn’t know any better I would think I was nesting! I actually had a good time doing it, and I am very proud of my results.

I enjoyed reading Logan’s blog this week (see below) because it gives you a glimpse into his daily life and how much he really enjoys dentistry. I get to see his enthusiasm every day, and it is good that the four people who read our blog can see a little bit of his excitement as well. Logan’s optimism and happiness are two of the things I love about him! I think he could be happy in numerous careers, but I think Dentistry fits him the best!

Here are a few pictures from our week.

Adalie and Jackson are both very excited about hugging stuffed animals and dolls. The giggles that accompany the hugs are priceless!

I love these flowers! This is our new bathroom (the toilet is under the shelf). I am not proud of myself for how unbelievably long it took me to get these up!

The picture below was taken a while ago when we bought Adalie and Jackson their new car seats. There are moments when I look at my kids and think, 'Wow, I have a lot of really young kids.' Whenever I look in the backseat and see them sitting side by side I have that thought.
This is not the most flattering picture, but you get the idea.

I have just finished what was, hands-down, the single most educational week of my career as a dental student. For those who didn’t read Rachel’s post earlier this week (a wonderful post, by the way), I was in Utah all week receiving training to place dental implants. And it was awesome! I’ll spare you the excruciating details here on the blog, but just know that I could talk for hours about how cool dentistry is. Don’t test me- I really could. For now I’ll just provide you with a short list about why dentistry is the coolest job ever:

-You get to use critical thinking and problem solving skills on a daily basis
-No two days are exactly the same
-There will always be something more to learn
-You develop extraordinary hand skills and are routinely working with a system which is calibrated in tenths, or even hundredths, of millimeters.
-You work closely with people, forming unique relationships with them, and always helping them
-Sometimes you dramatically change people’s lives for the better- this is intoxicating
-You can be your own boss and work according to your own philosophies and ideals
-You can be a business owner. This “business side” of dentistry can be taken to any level you want
-You are generally able to make a good living for your family, on a single income, and still have time to be with them

Am I a dental nerd? Absolutely.
Is it an obsession? You’ll have to ask Rachel. She, unlike you, has to endure my ramblings. I could go on and on…But I won’t. Instead, I’ll tell you why else this was a wonderful week for me.

After class every day I was able to drive down and see family who I usually don’t get a chance to be with. Out of all the time I was here, there was only one day that I actually got to bed by midnight. This was cool, because it meant that the rest of the time I was hanging out with some of the coolest people in the world. I spent time with Rachel’s whole family, talking long hours into the night with Wendy and Brandon. I got to help Donny inflate two 16 foot rafts and hang out with him and Alyssa long into the night. And I got to play Scrabble with Grandma Hill (I actually won- this is a momentous occasion) and talk with her long into the night.

The only problem is this: Out of all the time I was here, there was only one day that I slept past 3:30. You see, I have this natural ability/disability in which I will wake up between the hours of 5:30 and 6:30 every morning despite my bed time. Seriously, I could go to bet at 4:00 and wake up at 6:00. It is ridiculous, made even more so by the fact that I was already three hours behind my body’s natural schedule due to time zone changes and daylight savings. So I am pretty tired and excited to be home.

When I got home I found that Rachel is amazing and our house was cleaner than it has been in a really long time. She organized every cupboard, every shelf, and even scrubbed the walls. Wow! I love my wife.

I have no pictures of this week. Rachel might get on a little later and post some- I don’t know. Check back and maybe you’ll be surprised.

I just wanted to poke around here a bit to see if it was all that I had remembered. I haven’t been here for a long time because I have an amazing husband who is also an amazing writer that has graciously taken on the role of blogger in our family.

I absolutely love my life! Sure it isn’t perfect… My amazing husband is currently attending a very intense and very fun implant seminar in Utah, and my three kids decided to get sick the week of his absence. Daylight savings time is wreaking havoc on my children (specifically a pint sized new walker girl). Evelyn is definitely 2 ½ years old and she reminds me quite often. And finally- My computer is having major issues. The letter P needs constant cajoling, number eight absolutely refuses to work and five other keys are on the fritz. Be thankful for all of the letter P’s in this blog for they took some work. Hooray for electronics sales on the day after Thanksgiving!

Whew. Even with all of that I am loving every minute of this whole ‘mom’ thing. Logan and I are very blessed with our little family. I just wanted to take a second and give you an intimate look into each of our current lives. I am sure just the grandparents will read this. Mom, Nancy and Greg- This is for you!

Logan
How did I get so lucky? One thing I love about Logan is that he is passionate about what he is doing. He has a crazy passion for dentistry and I love to hear him when he gets excited about it. I know so much about dentistry, and I enjoy listening because he can make it interesting. I am actually pretty interested in a lot of things i.e. the plane of occlusion.

Logan is a very loving and caring dad. Evelyn, Adalie, and Jackson are pretty lucky. Logan takes time to do very sweet things with each of them. The day he left for Utah he took each of them on individual 30 minute walks to have some time together. He also took Evelyn on a date a few weeks ago (something that will happen many times in the future).

Logan is a wonderful husband. Last week he brought home flowers for me for no reason at all. He is very good at showing me that he loves me. Logan is my best friend and I love being with him.

The last couple of months Logan has been working hard in pursuit of a job that will take us to the northwest. We have a couple of good options and he is busy making contacts and looking for more opportunities. We are both very excited to move on to the next stage of our life. What would it be like to have both of us out of school?

Logan is also spending a great deal of time studying for the dental boards exam that is coming up soon. He studies in the morning at home while I go and work out. Did I mention that I have a wonderful husband?

Me
I am busy, busy, busy. I realized last week that we have events every single week day with our friends. Monday we have the option to go to the Children’s Museum with a group of friends. On Tuesday Evelyn have pre-school in the morning and Rosa teaches a Zumba class in the evening. On Wednesday Evelyn has dance class in the morning, we have a library story time we sometimes attend, and the Ladies Lunch with a group of friends. Thursday is pre-school in the morning and then I pick up Logan for our Institute Lunch date. On Friday we have park day in the morning. I really love being busy and having things for the kids to do. In the afternoon all of the kids nap at the same time and I am able to have time for myself and to get things done. Lately I have been creating a slightly new schedule so that I can have one-on-one time with each of my kids every day. I have really been enjoying this. I am really into the schedules if you can’t tell!

I am still waiting for my NIC Interpreting test results. I received an e-mail stating that all tests taken in September will take approximately four months to send results! Previous results had been coming in anywhere from three weeks to two and a half months. I am waiting as patiently as possible. I recently found out that I will receive a $10.00 an hour raise if I passed the test. I hope I get the results soon so that I can actually enjoy that raise before we move!

I am very excited for Christmas and I am overwhelming myself with how many things I want to make! I am starting to get into the Christmas spirit even though Thanksgiving hasn't even come yet! I am excited to see all of our family over the Christmas break. Evelyn has given the name 'Cousin' to all of her stuffed animals and dolls. I think she is excited too.

Evelyn
Evelyn surprises me every day with how smart she is. Of course I am her mom and I am going to be biased! When she had barely turned two she started writing her letters. I was shocked. I didn’t show her how to do this because I didn’t think it was possible that young. She showed me otherwise. Her favorite letters to write are H, A, e, E, O, D, and I. She often points out objects that resemble letters, and she will sit down and use random things to create letters she knows. The other day she was sitting in the back seat and she suddenly said, “Look- It’s an eight!” She had taken her roll from Institute Lunch and poked two holes in it to create a perfect letter eight.

Evelyn is very organized. I was downstairs today stacking up empty boxes and empty containers when I noticed she was moving them around the room. She took each container and set it exactly centered next to each and every post, furnace, or tall object in the room. There were twelve objects in all and I bet if you took a tape measure they would have all been exactly centered whether it be against a skinny pole or the wide furnace. She was very focused and she had in her mind exactly what she wanted to do.

Evelyn is a princess. I am not sure where she learned the meaning of this word, but I am beginning to think she was born with it in the very front of her mind. She constantly wears dresses and will refuse to put on jeans (this makes me sad because I think she is really cute in jeans). The other day I gave her a new shirt that happened to be blue. She absolutely refused saying that the shirt must belong to Jackson. Even when I explained that it was too large for Jackson she insisted that it was his because it was blue. Where do kids get these ideas??? I know it wasn’t from her parents.

Pre-school has been so much fun for her! I love to see the artwork that she brings home. She does a great job coloring in the lines and using a variety of colors (until last week when she went through the crayon bin and picked out all of the colors that resembled pink). She has also learned how to do dot-to-dots. This last week Holly taught a space/planet theme. Evelyn and I went to the library and picked out books about each planet. She loved to read them and even learned a few facts about almost all of them. She became obsessed over a picture of an astronaut and this week we went to the library in search of astronaut books. According to her she is a ‘princess astronaut.’

Adalie
Adalie is quite the ‘Moma’s girl.’ She LOVES being cuddled and held ALL the time. I have repeatedly timed how long it takes for her to crawl from wherever she is in the room and wiggle her way into the center of my lap. It has never been more than eight seconds from the time I sit down. I love these cuddles, but it makes it difficult to play with Jackson and Evelyn when I am always holding her. I have come up with some creative ways to play while not making my lap available. Don’t get me wrong though. I love her cuddles!

Adalie has just learned how to walk! Up until three days ago she didn’t have any desire or motivation to do it. Three days ago she just started taking steps. Her magic number was seven because each time I counted she took seven steps before sitting down or falling. Two days ago she repeatedly crawled to the coffee table to stand up. Then, she walked into the sun room until she fell. As soon as she fell she would crawl back to the same spot on the coffee table to stand up and do it again. She did that repeatedly. Yesterday, she was a full fledged walker. She was dedicated and she caught on quickly.

The other day at the dinner table I noticed that Adalie was folding her arms during the prayer. She had one hand daintily over the other and held in front of her. She has been folding her arms with us ever since then.

Yesterday I played ‘tea party’ with Jack and Addy for the first time. Adalie got a kick out of ‘pouring’ the tea. She made the ‘tea pouring’ sound and everything! Jackson loved pretending to drink out of the cup. This arrangement worked out well. She kept pouring him tea and he kept drinking it.

Jackson
Jackson is a maniac! He is into everything and he gets places very quickly. I love watching him figure things out. He is not satisfied until he learns how something works and he has figured out how to do it. I can just see the wheels in his head turning. He enjoys figuring out how to stack objects.

Jackson loves to organize things. I often find him setting out objects on the floor or placing a group of objects that are similar into a cupboard or cubby. The other day he was carefully placing each piece of play food into the cupboard. He opened and closed the cupboard before and after placing each item inside.

Jack loves to copy behaviors that he sees. A few days ago I put a book on my head to balance it. Ever since then he has been trying to balance various items on his head. Just another fun place to store things!

Jackson is very much a man with a plan. He has a place to go and he has plans for when he arrives. He likes to play with you if you are involved in his plan. Lately he has been making more room for his Momma in his plans. He has recently started crawling up to me and taking residence in my lap. I LOVE this! He doesn’t always stay for a long time, but he has been coming over to visit quite frequently. I quite enjoy his visits.

All of the kids-
Bath time is a great time of day! Adalie thinks she is a fish. She lays on her stomach and flops around while giggling madly. Jackson stands with his feet apart and splashes his little heart out while giggling madly. Evelyn splashes and tries to get Jack and Addy to copy her while she is giggling madly. I just sit back and watch while occasionally using the shower curtain as a shield from all of this wild splashing and giggling. Evelyn has become quite the helper during bath times because she likes to soap up Jack and Addy. This also involves much splashing and giggling.

Whoever said that twins just innately are better at sharing and waiting their turn did not have twins. Jack and Addy are both very good kids, but waiting has not been pre programmed into their systems. I mentioned above that Adalie loves sitting in my lap and that Jackson has recently become a fan. This is great except each of them wants to be in the middle and doesn’t want the other any where near me. Forget the idea of having one of them on each knee. I end up with two crying toddlers. This has been fun for me to manage lately. Other than this minor issue, both of them are pretty happy and pretty agreeable.

Right now Evelyn is still sleeping and Jackson and Adalie are walking in the living room both waiving their arms around like crazy people talking, shrieking and giggling. Life is good.

I think that having siblings (whether you have a twin or not) is a great help for children learning how to share. All three of the kids sit around the dinner table in their booster chairs. Often I catch them sneaking food to each other. Jackson will put it just in reach of Addy and wait for her to take it. Addy will do the same thing. Adalie will also give food to Evelyn (she sits in the middle). Evelyn routinely gives Jackson and Adalie some of her food. Last week I was watching as Jackson gave something to Adalie. She ate it, and then passed one of hers on to Evelyn. I love my kids!

Are you still with me? Congratulations. I hope you enjoyed this super long glimpse into my happy life. After all of that I don’t even have any pictures. What kind of a blogger am I??? If the truth be told I am the kind of blogger that can’t figure out how to get her new camera off of a crazy weird setting…

I hope you enjoyed all of those p’s.

Have a wonderful week.

Well, here I am eating a burrito in the Las Vegas airport, watching the zombies at the slots, and waiting for my flight to arrive. I'm tired.

Earlier today I took each of the kids out on individual “daddy walks.” It was nice. We walked down to the creek and threw sticks and rocks into the water. Last night we rented Toy Story 3 and watched it with Evelyn. It has been a nice week.

And now I am leaving for a week-long course in dental implant placement. We came across a great deal where one of the premier implant training institutes is offering the full course to dental students at a fraction of the cost that I would pay as a dentist. Rachel will be left alone with the three kids. She is a little bit nervous about this and I love her for allowing me to go- especially since it seems like they are all coming down with some sort of sickness. I am very excited.

Anyway, there’s really not too much to report this week. Addy is now a full-fledged walker. It is funny when Addy and Jack walk next to each other because when one starts to fall they inevitably lean into the other for support, forcing a “tackle contest” between the two. Addy usually wins due to a substantial weight advantage, but Jackson can definitely hold his own in such contests and does not go down easily. Either way, it is entertaining.

No pictures this week- sorry. I guess it’s ok though since you got a double dose of the Hazards last week.

I couldn't resist putting these pictures up. These were taken by our friend Jenny at the Halloween party.

"This pumpkin thing is just more stress than it's worth!"
-Rachel

Yes, Halloween is here- my favorite holiday of the year. So why haven't we gotten out the decorations yet? Why have we not carved pumpkins yet? Why have we not even looked at costumes for ourselves? The answer, of course, is that we have been having far too much fun to spend time on these trivial matters.

First of all, this week was Rachel's pre-school week. She loves planning out the day for these kids and does a fantastic job of balancing fun and education. And, of course, the crafts. This week our house smells like men's shaving cream due to one of her crafts. But all of the hard work always pays off because Rachel and the kids all had a good time- except for when a naked baby doll got thrown through our big front window- but even the macabre after-effects of that incident fit in with the Halloween theme. So all was well.

We also went to some parties. First off, Rachel took the kids to park day on Friday, like she does every week. This time, however, they did it at the institute building and they had rooms blocked off and they decorated cookies and everyone was wearing costumes and getting into the Halloween spirit and having fun. Evelyn tells me that I should have been there. It was fun. Also, the ward Halloween party was on Saturday, complete with a chili cook-off, pumpkin decorating, and a trunk-or-treat for the kids. Evelyn had a great time, and Jack and Addy were "mostly good."

And then we rounded off the week by going on not one, but two dates. That's right. Rachel and I got to leave our kids in the capable hands of babysitters twice this week. Yes, it has been a great Halloween season indeed. On our first date we went and saw Inception, which was actually a pretty good movie that I still don't feel like I have totally figured out. It's one of those shows you have to go back and watch a second time- or maybe a third- to really understand. I love that!

On our second date we went out to the Melting Pot. If you are not familiar with it, this is a fondue restaurant and it is amazing. Rachel had been here before on one of her girls-nights-out and has ever since wanted to take me. The cheese fondue alone leaves you wanting to come back again, and that was only our appetizer. After the entree and dessert I am convinced that we have found a little piece of heaven on earth. The only thing that could make it better would be a dramatic decrease in the price, because I don't know that we'll be going back very often. But one can still dream, right?

So anyway, here we are, on the afternoon of Halloween, and we still have not carved our pumpkins. If you have been following this blog for any number of years, then you realize what a dent this has put in our Halloween traditions. See, we have normally spent a great deal of time on our pumpkins. Well, now we have somewhere between one and two hours until the kids wake up from their naps to get them done- so don't expect much.

Here are some pictures. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Rachel may have been stressed, but her pumpkins turned out super nice. The Whinnie the Pooh pumpkin got more comments than any other

And my theme was The Nightmare Before Christmas. Simple, but I like how they turned out.

And Evelyn did a Princess, of course.

Carving pumpkins is fun- but "very, very dirty," according to Evelyn

Update: Whew! We got the house all decorated and the music playing and everything. I am convinced it was the best house on the block. Evelyn had a blast running from house to house trick-or-treating and we are now trying to tear her away from her candy bucket to put her to bed. Yea right.

In my cubicle that I work in at the dental school, I have a family picture in the corner. It is the same picture that is by the title of this blog. I like having the picture there for a lot of reasons, but one of them is that patients can see it, and anyone who has had kids immediately knows that I can identify with them. I can then talk with them about their kids, and they can talk to me about mine, and we suddenly have a relationship that is far more than just a normal doctor-patient interaction. That, in turn makes it so that when I tell them they need seven fillings and three crowns, they trust that I am acting in their best interest. This is good. But having the picture there has also led to some interesting comments from people.

Take last week for instance. A person who wasn't even a patient of mine saw it and asked me if those were my kids. After considering all of the sarcastic responses I could have given to explain the picture, I decided to just answer the question and say yes. Then they asked if Rachel was my wife. This time it was harder to restrain my sarcasm, but again I simply answered the question. And then this person remarked how surprised I must have been to have three kids, since I was probably never planning on having that many. Here's a quote: "If it weren't for the older one it would be perfect- one boy and one girl. Too bad they didn't come first- then you wouldn't need any more."

Excuse me. Did you really just say that? What kind of social imbecile are you? "Yea- and maybe your parents should have quit before you came along." No, I didn't say that, but I did take joy in explaining to this person that, not only did we love our Evelyn very much, but that we were planning on having even more further on down the road. They were incredulous.

I also get a lot of remarks about how difficult it must be to have a wife and three kids along with all of the responsibilities of dental school. I usually agree with these people that it definitely gets hectic at times, but that there is no better feeling than to come in and have three kids giggling with joy just because you walked in the door. There is no better support than a wife who is willing to listen to all of your conquests or failures. And there is no better way to spend a Saturday than by going on a bike ride and having a picnic lunch with your family.

Honestly, I don't quite understand how people go through life without having a wife and kids. It just seems like it would be really, really boring and sad if your biggest passion in life was for a job. Or a hobby. Or even a good group of friends. There is nothing-not one single thing- that compares to a good family. And I guess that is something that just can't be explained to someone who has never lived it.

Anyway- we went to a Halloween party this week where the kids got to debut their costumes. Here are some cute pictures.

Jackson played his part well as Winnie the Pooh and repeatedly attacked the honey pot (AKA: Addy). He just wanted to take the lid off!